Monday, June 16, 2008

Titans Smackdown!

Ladies and Gentelemen, welcome to the All Ages Reads Titans Smackdown! In this corner, we have Tiny Titans, a festival of color and cuteness brought to you by Art Baltazar and Franco. Awwwww yeah, Titans! In the opposite corner we have Teen Titans Year One, the action-oriented origin story by Wolfram, Kerschl, Lapointe, and Peru. Our judges tonight are comic reviewers extraordinaire, Shelby, age 12, and Sarah, age 9. Let’s get ready to rumble!

Round One: HumorSarah: Tiny Titans has actual jokes, even knock-knock jokes! Most of the time you don’t have to understand about the characters to get the jokes, but they’re funnier if you do. Like they talk about the Big Penny and the dinosaur that are always shown in the Batcave – that’s not so funny if you’re not a Batman fan.Shelby: In Teen Titans Year One, when Aqualad squeals, that’s pretty funny. Flash tries to show off and be funny but he’s not exactly cool, kind of like this kid at my school. Most of the time he’s funny but sometimes he’s just stupid.

Round Three: ActionShelby: Teen Titans Year One has explosions and the Titans have to beat up their mentors.Sarah: Teen Titans Year One because the characters aren’t in elementary school and they aren’t chubby. There’s actually punching and the bad guys are actually scary. In Tiny Titans the Fearsome Five are really cute and they try to take the swings away from the Titans, which is very evil. NOT!

Round Four: PowersShelby: In Teen Titans Year One they actually use their powers to kick the bad guys’ butts. Except Robin, of course, who just kicks butt without powers. The only way the Tiny Titans use their powers is like when the girls use Cyborg as an Easy Bake Oven.Sarah: In Tiny Titans they use their powers to do cute stuff like when Kid Devil heats up Robin’s hot chocolate or flame-broils wieners or Beast Boy turns into different animals to bug the teacher. In Teen Titans Year One they use their powers the old-fashioned way to save the world.

So who is the winner of the All Ages Reads Titans Smackdown? The readers, of course! We highly recommend both titles. Teen Titans Year One might not be right for the very youngest kids – they might be afraid at seeing Batman act like a bad guy, and yes, Flash does say “kick butt.” It’s great for everyone else, though. Tiny Titans manages to be that rare beast, a truly all-ages comic; kids will laugh at the jokes and gags while adults will chuckle at the DC references.

Sarah: Tiny Titans makes you laugh out loud from cuteness and jokes. Teen Titans Year One tells a good story and makes you want to find out what happens next.

Shelby: It depends on who you are on the inside. Are you more tender on the inside, like a good steak? Then read Tiny Titans because it’s tender and cute. Or are you raw on the inside and charred on the outside? Then read Teen Titans Year One because you will enjoy some kick-butt action.